This blog is meant to display my coins/currency notes/stamps, in an informative manner, which would be useful to users in knowing about the history of the period when these coins/banknotes/stamps were minted/printed and events/persons they honour/depict, both on Indian and foreign coins/banknotes/stamps. The content would be more in the nature of a walk down memory lane through my collection/articles.

Special
Cover on the “Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal Library”:

The Front of a Special
Cover issued during TANAPEX 2017

This Special Cover is
titled “Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal Library”. An image of the entrance
to the Library is shown on the left hand side of the Cover, together with the
inscription “Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji Ka Sarasvati Mahal Pustakalaya” (in Hindi) and “Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji’s Sarasvati
Mahal Library” (in English).

On the top left is
mentioned “Special Cover”, along with the logo of “TANAPEX 2017”.

In the top centre is the
logo/emblem of the Swacchh Bharat
Mission with the slogan “Ek Kadam
Swachhta Ki Ore” (in Hindi – meaning “A step towards cleanliness”).

On the top right is a 500
Paise or Rs.5/- stamp brought out on the occasion of the International Yoga Day
organised on 21.06.2016 and shows one of the 24 "mudras"
(postures) of the “Surya Namaskar Yog”
(“Sun Yoga”), which was the theme of the International yoga Day 2016. The
Cancellation Hand-stamp is inscribed “TANAPEX 2017” (in both Hindi and English)
on the upper periphery. In the centre are images of three palm leaf manuscripts
representing ancient texts from the library. Further below is the cancellation
of Chennai GPO which is dated “06.01.2017”.

The Back of the Special
Cover bears the description:

“T.M.S.S.M. Library (From
16th Century)”:

The Thanjavur Maharaja
Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal Library Mahal is one of the few medieval libraries
that exist in the world. It is a treasure house of knowledge built by the
successive dynasties of Thanjavur. The Maratha King Serfoji II (1798-1832) was
an eminent scholar and he took special steps for the enrichment of the library.
The library in recent years has introduced many facilities such as library
automation, digitizing of books and manuscripts, cataloguing with RFID and
online public access catalogue.

It has on display a rare
collection of Palm Leaf manuscripts and paper written in Sanskrit, Tamil,
Telugu and Marathi. The collection comprises over 47,424 number of manuscripts
and 73,399 number of books. The library has published 578 books.

Towards the bottom right
is the logo of India Post. The approval of the Chief Postmaster General,
Tamilnadu Circle is recorded at to its right, together with the approval number
“TN/05/2017”.

About
the “Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal Library”:

The Thanjavur Maharaja
Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal Library is one among a few medieval libraries
existing in the world today. Located in Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamilnadu,
India, it is one of the oldest libraries in Asia.

It is an unparalled
repository of culture and an inexhaustible treasure house of knowledge
built up by successive dynasties of Nayaks and the Marathas of Thanjavur.
It contains very rare and valuable collections of manuscripts, books, maps
and paintings on all aspects of Art, Culture and Literature. The
Encyclopaedia Britannica in its survey of libraries of the world mentions it as
“the most remarkable Library in the world”.

The library has a rare collection of
Palm leaf manuscripts and paper written in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi and
English, as well as, a few other local/regional languages of India.

The collection comprises around 75,000
volumes, though only a tiny fraction of these are on display.

The library has a complete
catalogue of holdings, which is available on the internet online since 1998,
as well. Some rare holdings can be viewed on site by prior arrangement.
Continuous arrangements are made to digitalise all the manuscripts in the
library.

The library started as a Royal
library of the Nayaks of Tanjore, the then Kings of Thanjavur who ruled
from 1535–1675 AD. The Maratha Rulers who ruled Thanjavur from 1675 onwards,
patronised the local culture and further developed the Royal Palace Library
until 1855.

The most notable among
the Maratha Kings was Serfoji II (1798 – 1832), who was an eminent
scholar in many branches of learning and the Arts. In his early age,
Serfoji studied under the influence of the German Reverent Schwartz and learnt
many languages including English, French, Italian and Latin. He
enthusiastically took special interest in augmenting the library, employing
many scholars to collect, buy and copy a vast number of works from all renowned
centres of Sanskrit learning in Northern India and other far-flung places.

Since 1918, the
Library has been in the possession of the State of Tamilnadu when its
official name was changed to “Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji’s Sarasvati Mahal
Library” in honour of the great Maratha patron of learning.

The bulk of the
manuscripts (around 39,300) are in Sanskrit, written in the Devnagri,
Granth, Nandinagari, Telugu and Modi (script) languages etc. The library also
has in its collection Tamil, Marathi, Persian and Urdu manuscripts some as
old as the 17th Century AD. The library also has medical records
of Ayurveda scholars, including patient case studies and interviews. The
records also hold information of the political, cultural and social
administration of the Maratha Kings of Thanjavur.

2 comments:

Ramchandra Lalingkar has commented:"I had visited this Library in 1972 during my LFC. The librarian, when he came to know that we are from Maharashtra and that to from Pune, was profusely telling us history of the great Shahajiraje Bhosale, father of Shivaji, who ruled Tanjore. That was a unique experience for me."

About Me

I am Rajeev Prasad, a retired State Bank of India officer who had been collecting coins in a shoe box without having a serious interest. Only after quitting my job I got the time to take serious interest in developing my coin collection into a hobby. A pity, because I would have had more opportunity to lay my hands on more 'exclusive coins' while in the Bank. Anyway, as they say,better late than never. If you have any views to share with me regarding this blog , please contact me on my email rajeevprasad1208@gmail.com. I also have a twitter account @prasad_rajeev.
I had an opportunity to participate in a Documentary on the life and times of the 25 paise coin titled “Chal Basi Chavanni” (The four anna/twenty five paise coin passes away), aired by STAR NEWS on 29th and 30th June 2011. The programme helped in making many persons hold back onto their “chavannis”, the little round beauties, instead of returning them to Banks .